At the Generations roundtable session in Shanghai, China’s leading shipbuilders, shipowners, industry organizations and service providers gathered to discuss the technologies likely to influence the development of shipping in China, and their expectations for Chinese and international maritime markets.
Wenhua Xing, Alf Kåre Ådnanes, Shi Chen 
Alf Kåre Ådnanes, Shi Chen, Evan Fei E, Rong Huang
China commands the world’s second largest economy, and is the largest shipbuilding nation in the world. China’s ongoing ‘Belt and Road’ economic development project encompasses some 65 countries representing more than 30 percent of global GDP. Maritime initiatives in the project aim to expand shipping lanes and port investments throughout Southeast Asia, Oceania, Africa, and Europe.
Working from such a solid base and with such ambitious plans, the future of the Chinese maritime industry will impact not just global shipping, but the global economy. That future will be determined by government policies, the evolution of the domestic shipbuilding industry, and the ambitions of the Chinese shipowning community.
Opening the discussion, moderator Wenhua Xing, Chairman of the Shanghai Society of Naval Architects & Ocean Engineers (SSNAME) and Director of the Marine Design and Research Institute of China (MARIC), shared his own perspectives on Maritime 4.0. “The Internet and sensor technology have brought on great change, and will continue to have a great impact on our lives. There is steadily more online commercial activity, and this has impacted retailers. Online vendors can offer quicker delivery and lower price, and this applies to vendors in the maritime industry as well.”
New technologies also have advantages for environmental protection, Xing added, mentioning fuel cells specifically. “We need to consider the owners,” he added. “They want to see return on their investments, and then it becomes about more than just technology. We need to think about technology and the advantages in efficiency it can provide for the whole industry.”
He also noted the increasing investment in intelligent and near-autonomous vessels. “We now believe that the autonomous vessel is within reach. But what are the advantages? This we still do not know.”
Keyi Hu, Chief Engineer at Jiangnan Shipbuilding Co., Ltd, reminded the group that the intelligent vessel is still a general concept in the early stages of development. “There are and will be varying degrees of autonomy. We will need a stepwise development as we move toward the ultimate goal,” he maintained.
“With the development of new technologies, especially digitalization and the IoT, there is more and more high-level automation, and implementation of these technologies requires involvement from the integrators. There are many strong integrators, but there is risk involved for shipbuilders using third parties to carry out work. If half the total cost of a vessel is in the hands of the integrators, shipbuilders might not feel secure, and there is also a potential risk for owners.”
So how can shipyards can minimize risk? “It becomes very important how integration suppliers convince shipyards to apply new technologies in projects, and shipbuilders need to know how they can control risk when integrating suppliers,” said Hu.
Intelligence and the environment
China Classification Society (CCS) Shanghai Branch Director Shi Chen shared his vision of two directions for the industry over the next 20-30 years: intelligent shipping and sustainable shipping. “These are the inevitable trends,” he emphasized.
“Intelligent shipping is enabled by suppliers of intelligent equipment. In 2015, we worked to release intelligent vessel regulations, cooperating with ABB on different aspects. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Now we are performing R&D on intelligent operations in 10 vessel segments.”
Chen explained that they have accomplished a lot in just a few years. “We recently developed new unmanned vessel regulations, which we now are calling autonomous cargo ship regulations, launched during SMM maritime trade fair in 2018. We have divided the cargo regulations into 10 or 12 systems for separate risk assessments. Depending on whether we are talking about unmanned or not, different requirements for systems and equipment would apply.”
In addition to regulations for cargo vessels, CCS has prepared requirements for more complex vessel types, Chen said. “The system for cargo vessels is relatively clear and robust, so this will form the basis of further regulations. I believe that by releasing these regulations we can provide good direction for the further development of autonomous shipping and the shipbuilding industry.”
Moving on to environmental issues, Chen focused on likely scenarios shaping the power of the future: “As environmental regulations continue to get stricter, we believe in fuel cells as a viable power source,” he continued. “Fuel cell technology is developing to allow higher energy densities, and this will enable us to gradually transform our vessels to pure electric propulsion.”
Chen acknowledged there are issues to be resolved in electrical power storage, but pointed out that battery hybrid technology can be applied to ships. “We will start with ferries, then move on to short sea routes, then longer distances.” River routes will require shore connection, he added, but this should not pose major problems, as the electric infrastructure is already in place.
“Marine does need to invest more in technology and new energy, but we are on the right track to comply with the IMO 2020 regulations,” Shi Chen concluded.
Cooperation is king
Hudong Zhonghua Shipbuilding Group Co. Ltd. General Manager Jun Chen reminded the group that the industry was previously occupied with speed, focusing on the relation between engine and propeller. “But Marine 4.0 is a new generation,” he claimed. “No single solution can address all demands in the industry. This requires a multi-faceted solution. R&D and design need to cooperate with manufacturers to meet the new demands.”
Designers, suppliers and manufacturers will also need to be better coordinated with shipbuilders, he explained, to guarantee both performance and environmental care. To maximize speed and capacity with the lowest possible energy consumption, all stakeholders will need to cooperate more closely: “Today manufacturers select their solutions themselves. In the future, all parties will have to communicate with each other in advance, maybe even work on design together.”
Jun Chen said he believes the industry is already approaching this new era, but raised questions about the impact. “China is now the largest shipowning nation by number of ships, and we will soon be the leading shipbuilding nation. But what does that mean for shipbuilding in the world?”
He pointed out that hull welding has already achieved higher quality in China than previously, and that the life cycle of Chinese ships is longer than for ships from other countries. “Continuing to grow and develop the shipbuilding industry in China will lead to China becoming a leading equipment manufacturing nation, not just a hull manufacturer.”
In order to achieve this status, Jun Chen sees support and cooperation with European companies as essential. “There are more European companies setting up in China. It saves them time and money. Having Chinese subsidiary speeds up development and deliveries and saves transport costs. I believe this trend will continue to grow, and shipbuilding in China will grow with the country.”
Offshore and beyond
Xiaoping Li, Vice Director of MARIC, spoke of the importance of AI and other technologies that will promote development of the maritime industries, including offshore. “Creating intelligent offshore vessels is an important goal, especially for complex vessels like FPSOs. I believe that the pursuit of intelligent offshore vessels should be prioritized over other segments.”
He then posed a pair of questions to the hosts: “This is an area where ABB has vast experience. What are ABB’s thoughts about intelligent offshore vessels? Another subject is the power of the future. Do we go with clean energy or LNG? Or perhaps there will be more batteries? We are still in the early stages, still developing our opinions. What does ABB think?”
ABB Marine & Ports China Technology Manager Evan Fei E fielded the questions: “ABB has been actively following the market in China since CCS released their intelligent vessel regulations. They cover merchant shipping, but also offshore engineering. We are taking steps at different levels to respond to challenges in the trend. We have a lot of major projects going on involving lithium ion (LI) batteries and fuel cells, and we have initiated cooperation with Ballard Power Systems of Canada to develop batteries for the cruise segment,” Fei E reported. “Now we are looking for local Chinese partners for LI and fuel cell development, to ensure compliance with local requirements.”
Regarding vessel intelligence, Fei E said that ABB is leveraging the expertise from offshore engineering, where digital solutions were first introduced. “We will use remote diagnostics, coordinating with the operator and shore staff to support the crew on decision making. We are looking into applying both preventative and predictive maintenance and uploading all data to the Cloud to allow sharing across the board.” ABB’s Collaborative Operations Centers can help collect and relay information, he added, allowing owners and operators to be informed of all the basic parameters during operations. “I am confident that all these technologies combined will improve intelligence and drive further automation of vessels. What we need now is a process to carry out these improvements.”
Build for the future
ABB Marine & Ports China General Manager Alf Kåre Ådnanes summed up the day’s discussion with a broad look at the achievements and challenges in Chinese shipping: “We do have good cooperation and communication, but there is a lot of room for improvement on integration. We still have many different solutions, and we should try and simplify.”
Many of the challenges relate to the relationship between technology and regulations, Ådnanes believes. “Before we could wait years to see how regulations developed and be more reactive in our response. Now technology is changing faster than the rules. How designers, owners and builders interface is driven more by technological developments than regulations.”
This is proof that shipping is becoming more proactive, Ådnanes claimed. “We have not seen the end of development. Carbon-free, autonomous vessels are coming. Our challenge now is to deliver ships that make sense today, but that are also able to meet future demands. The question is, how well prepared are Chinese shipowners and yards to adapt to this development, to build vessels by today’s standards that will remain relevant for the next 20 years?”
